Flood of Vengeance
by Wyatt Cascade
Summary: "Emotion's can be melted! In the heat of revanche!" "It's REVENGE, and it's best served cold!"  "But it can be easily reheated, in the microwave of evil!" Who's right? Is revenge cold? Is is hot? A Zutara story.
1. Chapter 1: Stormy Weather

Toph sat on top of a high plateau, listening to Sokka's flint click together hopelessly over the pile of twigs and lichen they'd gathered.

Sokka let out a cry of annoyance. "This just isn't working! Katara, isn't there something you can do?"

Katara stood near the pile of twigs, hair and clothes soaked by the pounding rain. She wrung out her hair for the third time in five minutes. "I could bend the water out of the wood, but it wouldn't help, not in this rain."

Aang had crawled under Appa's front leg, nestled into the bison's long fur.

Sokka let out an angry sigh and went back to striking his flint uselessly.

Katara watched her brother for a bit before she turned and looked out at the edge of the plateau.

He was sitting so close to the edge, looking so carefully balanced that a gust of wind could blow him over. Katara knew better. Knocking Zuko over was nearly impossible.

She took a step towards him, and then another, he had his back to her, so she couldn't really tell, but it looked like he might be meditating. Again. She took one more step, edging gradually closer.

"What do you want, Katara?" Zuko muttered.

Katara jumped about a foot into the air. Not only had he heard her despite the pounding rain and occasional thunder, but he'd known it was her.

"I-I was wondering..." she trailed off, unsure about how ask.

He stood up in one graceful, fluid motion and turned to look at her, rain drops sizzling and steaming where they touched his skin. He blinked emotionless golden eyes at her.

"I... Could you- um, would you...?" She trailed off again.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Katara wants you to light the fire." Toph saved her.

Zuko glanced over Katara's shoulder at the young earth bender.

"Please?" added Katara hopefully.

Zuko looked at them boredly. "You interrupted my meditating for this?" He inquired.

"Yes mister high and mighty! Get your rear over here and light the fire!" shouted Toph.

"No." said Zuko stubbornly. Turning his back on them and sitting down again.

"Please?" repeated Katara. "I know it won't take more than a second of your time, and we're all freezing."

"I'm not freezing." Zuko turned his head slightly, and Katara caught sight of the corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk.

"You- You- Agh!" snapped Katara. She was shaking, weather from cold or anger was hard to tell.

"Yes!" came Sokka's triumphant cry.

Katara looked over her shoulder, only to find that the twigs at burst into full-fledged fire, that didn't waver as the rain hit it. She looked suspiciously at Zuko, who had once again turned away from her, returning to his meditating. Katara turned to the fire, walking back towards it.

Appa scooted closer to the flames, letting out a huge puff of air on the fire, which amazingly, barely wavered. Now she knew Zuko had lit it. She sat down by the fire and began making some stew, roasting some meat on the side so Aang wouldn't have to eat it. Sokka eyed the meat and wouldn't stop poking it with his knife, and eventually, Katara gave up on reprimanding him.

When the meat and stew was done, Katara dished a bowl of stew and managed to wrestle a little meat away from Sokka, resting against the edge of the bowl. She walked over towards Zuko, trying to step lightly and sneak up on him. She set the bowl next to his knee.

"Hello Katara."

Katara startled, nearly falling over the edge of the cliff.

His arm shot out and gripped her wrist, steadying her.

"Clumsy." he muttered.

"How the hell did you know it was me?" Katara almost shouted.

The rain had subsided slightly, but the thunder was still there, and, she realized, he'd never opened his eyes. He opened his eyes, looking at her as if she'd just asked him how to breathe.

Katara glared at him.

He closed his eyes again, refusing to answer.

She bristled, ready to strangle him. She aimed a kick at his shoulder.

Zuko's arm snapped up, and he gripped her ankle, giving a sharp yank.

She fell on her rear. Letting out a yell of outrage, Katara tackled him from behind, grabbing his shoulders and trying to force him to the ground.

He twisted, cat-like, out of her grip. As he rolled away, she crawled after him, grabbing his arm and rolling him onto his back.

She put a hand on his shoulder, attempting to pin him to the ground. His smirk returned, and his hand gripped her waist, flipping her on her back and rolling on top of her, pinning her down with his body weight.

"No fair!" She squirmed, trying to get free. One of his hands pinned her wrists to the ground above her head.

Her eyes met his, and she suddenly realized how close he was. An electric hum went through her muscles. "Get off me." she whispered.

Zuko rolled off her and let go of her wrists, turning his back on her and picking up his bowl of stew, starting to eat.

She walked backed to the fire. Then she realized the others had all been watching. She blushed.

Sokka was glaring at Zuko's back; Aang was openly staring at her, holding a sleeping Momo in his lap.

Toph, who had obviously felt the whole scene, was the first one to speak. "That was interesting."

Katara's blush deepened and she wondered if Toph had sensed the electric thrum. She crawled into her tent to hide from everyone.

Aang's voice sounded near her a few minutes later, whispering through the fabric, "Are you alright Katara?"

She blushed again in shelter of the tent, pulling the blanket over her head, remembering the heated touch of Zuko's skin. "I'm fine." she squeaked, pulling the blanket more securely about her.

Aang's shadow nodded and got up, returning to the fire.

Katara didn't remember falling asleep, but she did remember waking up breathing hard, and sweating. The cobwebs of nightmare still clinging to her mind, she'd dreamed about her mother again. Katara climbed out of the blankets and left her tent. She broke down into quiet sobs before the tent flap had closed behind her. She stumbled to the fire pit, the fire had burned down.

The sky was barely light around the edges, and the rain had subsided.

She shivered and sobbed rocking herself by the fire pit. The fire flickered into existence. Katara quickly wiped her eyes on her sleeves, and tried to calm her sobbing. She looked to her left and found Zuko sitting there.

He stared at the fire, ignoring her.

She pulled my knees up and rested her chin on her knees.

"Nightmares?" came the quite word.

A small sob escaped Katara's lips as she shook her head. "Memories." she replied.

She felt a hesitant touch on the back of her hand, Zuko's finger tracing lines on her skin. The comforting warmth of his touch made her want to confide in him. She sighed, telling him about the loss of her mother. She realized she'd said much more than she'd intended. Katara put a hand over her mouth.

Zuko's hand had moved from mine. "I understand." he murmured.

She'd moved closer to him during the story.

She scooted away from him, "Sorry."

Aang exploded out of his tent, the huge gust of air blew her hair into a tangle. She stood up, laughing and returned to her tent to fetch her comb.


	2. Chapter 2: You Can't Contain Anger

**This ought to be going on as for a while, though as soon as school starts, I'll have less time to write, so, bear with me. I'd intended to make Zuko "Angry boy" as Jun would put it, but, it didn't quite fit. So I decided to follow his temperament after he joined the avatar's group.**

Zuko stared out at the horizon from his place at the edge of Appa's saddle. The day had been sunny, and it was nearly noon. He could sense Katara's eyes on his back again, He smirked turning and meeting her eyes.

She blushed, and dropped her gaze almost immediately.

Zuko turned his back on her again, knowing her eyes would be on him again in another ten minutes. The air above the clouds was frigid. A puff of flame escaped his lips as he exhaled a common side effect of firebending to keep himself warm.

Diagonally across from him, Toph, as usual, was slightly green in the face, being an earthbender made her a bit queasy when she wasn't near the ground. Sokka was asleep, snoring loudly. Zuko glared at him. Was everything about Sokka's life this loud?

Aang turned around from his place at the reins. "We're almost there." His eyes moved to Katara.

Zuko followed his gaze, finding her staring at him again. It was unnerving. He glared at her. She held his gaze a while longer, then dropped her gaze to her knees. She fiddled with the fringe on the edge of her dress.

He looked back at Aang. The young airbender glared at him so fiercely, Zuko thought if Aang had been a firebender by birth, Zuko would have caught fire.

Zuko raised an eyebrow at the young avatar.

Aang made a sound similar to a territorial growl before turning back around.

Zuko returned his gaze back to the horizon, pondering the recent occurrences. The avatar's growl had sounded, almost… jealous. Ridiculous. There were no feelings between him and the water girl, were there?

The bison landed a few hours later, and Zuko swung himself out of the beast's saddle, striding away as the others began to set up camp. They were used to this, and tossed his stuff into a pile.

Katara had tried to force him to help them, like she had Toph. Whereas Toph's rage had resulted in a few thrown rocks and a lot of yelling, Zuko had become the impersonation of fury.

Quite literally, his eyes had become solid gold moments before his entire body had burst into flame. All Zuko had remembered afterwards was sound, shouts, yells, and above all else, Katara's scream of pain.

He walked down to a nearby creek. Dipping his hands into the cold water and splashing it onto his face. Then sat down, pulling his shirt off and dipping it into the freezing water. Then took the soaked cloth and wrapped it about his shoulders. It was always a good idea to have something to smother fire around when he did this.

He closed his eyes, delving deep into his soul, the part of him his father had released the day Zuko had received his scar. His personality had split. One side of him was understanding and calm, the other, all the true emotion of fire; anger, fury, destruction, impatience, and passion. He slowly chipped away at it, trying to lock it up again, but it was proving a harder job than it seemed. Taking slow, deep breaths, he began the meditation.

About an hour later, Katara wandered through the woods trying to find Zuko. She finally saw him sitting on the edge of the creek. "Zuko?"

No answer.

_He must be very deep in meditation._ She thought. She reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. "Dinner is ready." She came around in front of him. "Zuko?"

He opened his eyes, revealing them to be solid yellow-gold.

Katara put a hand to her mouth. "Oh God." All her memories from the night when Zuko had lost control flooded to her mind, it was almost the avatar state set against them. Katara backed into the creek, a hand against her waist.

Some part of Zuko recognized her, for he seemed to struggle with himself, a look of fear crossed his face as flames rippled into existence across his skin.

Katara let out a squeak of terror and she fell in the water as he stood up.

Any human appearance was lost as a look of pure rage appeared on his flaming face.

Katara curled into a ball, waiting for his burning touch. It didn't come.

When she finally looked up, she found Zuko on the ground, his back to her, his arms crossed tightly against his chest. As she picked herself up, she noticed his shoulders shaking, and realized, he was… crying. She crawled out of the water to his side.

"Are you alright?" she asked calmly, the healing spirit of her element forcing her to find out how she could help. She put a hand on his arm, only now realizing that He wasn't wearing a shirt. She blushed slightly, glad that his otherworldly fire hadn't harmed his pants.

At her touch, he opened his eyes, which were now back to normal. "I c-can't get rid of it. I can't get rid of the anger."

Katara helped him to his feet. "Anger is part of you, Zuko, You can't contain anger, it's your element."

He wiped to tears of his face with the heel of his hand. "You don't hate me?"

"I didn't hate you the last time it happened." Her hand settled on her waist again. "But just to be careful, we'll keep this incident to ourselves." She said, bending the water out of her clothes and Zuko's shirt.

She hurled the shirt at him. "Put that back on."

Zuko smirked, pulling the shirt on over his head. As she turned to lead him back to the camp, he grabbed her hand, she startled, turning to face him, and tripped, falling against his chest.

Zuko looked down at her, face devoid of emotion. "Clumsy." He muttered, but unlike yesterday, there was less scorn in his voice.

The electric feeling hummed through her nerves again, making her shudder.

"Is something wrong?" asked Zuko.

"No." replied Katara, pushing herself away from him and turning away to hide her blush.

"I wanted to say," continued Zuko "Thanks." Katara looked over her shoulder, casting him a careful smile.


End file.
